1st Was Swimming With Dolphins -- Now They're Looking At Sharks

The Insider - Thought, talk, speculation

August 12, 2002

Word is that SeaWorld Orlando may give guests a chance to get in the water with about 50 sharks. Guests would be protected inside a cage in the park's Terrors of the Deep attraction. SeaWorld officials wouldn't comment, but there's talk that the park may begin offering the shark encounter as early as this month.

ROUNDTABLE OR WHISTLE-STOP?

U.S. Rep. Ric Keller's office hyped a meeting last week at the University of Central Florida as a high-tech forum -- a sort of economic development roundtable. But it had the feel of a Keller-for-Congress campaign stop. Keller, a Republican, and Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty, another fall re-election candidate, joined U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao in giving short speeches about their accomplishments. Several television stations sent news crews to the event, which concluded with Keller's staff distributing fliers highlighting the congressman's track record for bringing home federal funds for local tech companies.

INSURANCE HEADACHE

Dozens of Orlando doctors are upset over a billing mix-up by the health insurer for Orange County's public school teachers. Beginning last October, some doctors were mistakenly paid by the insurer when patients instead should have paid out of pocket to meet their deductibles. Now the insurer is withholding reimbursements from the doctors to recoup the money it mistakenly paid out, and is telling doctors to collect the deductibles themselves. That adds up to thousands of dollars for some doctors, who are skeptical that they can convince patients to pay. As one office manager put it: "If I got a bill for services rendered six months ago, I probably wouldn't pay it, either.''

WANTED: CHAMBER PRESIDENT

Longtime local businessman Gary A. Brewer -- a former Winter Park mayor and former manager of the Jacobson's Park Avenue store -- is now a former president of the city's Chamber of Commerce. Brewer recently left his post as chamber president to pursue an unspecified opportunity in the private sector. He became head of the business group in the mid-1990s. It was his second round with the chamber, including a stint in the early 1980s. Doug DeGraff is interim president while the chamber searches for a permanent replacement.

BIG BIRD GOES BILINGUAL

Universal Studios Florida's project to film a movie that will be shown next year in a new attraction at Universal Studios Japan will be dubbed in Japanese. And the company says there aren't currently any plans to open a similar attraction in Orlando. Still, one production supervisor confided, just in case there's a demand by Universal's U.S. theme parks in the future, a version of the unnamed film with Big Bird, Elmo and their friends will also be finished in English.